


one thing

by sinequanon



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, M/M, Memory Loss, Reincarnation, Resurrection, Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 16:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9279053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinequanon/pseuds/sinequanon
Summary: Peter uses Stiles and then forgets him. Literally.Unfortunately, so does everyone else.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written almost a year ago about the same time I was writing the fairy tale series, so this has that kind of feel to it, even though it's not a fairy tale fic itself. It's a little strange, and I wasn't quite sure how to tag it, but I still like it. I hope you do, too.
> 
> Happy reading!

At one time, Stiles wanted nothing more than to be in Peter's arms, but that time had long since passed. Oh, Stiles could still feel the steady thrum of their connection against his rib cage, but he knew that the alpha was too steeped in his thirst for revenge to notice.

Stiles had thought, for just a moment, that Peter had recognized him that day in the hospital, before Derek had needed to save him from an enraged alpha.

When Peter had held his arm and asked if he wanted the bite, Stiles's heart had tripped because he thought he had seen a faint glimmer of recognition in Peter's eyes.

Stiles wanted to stay positive, but he was afraid that by the time Peter remembered, it would be too late.

(He was right.)

<> <>

Things got better, eventually. Even after all the monsters and deaths, even with so many people leaving Beacon Hills, Peter realized there was no value in ruling an empty kingdom and sided with Scott's pack long enough to guarantee peace in the region. Nobody (except Stiles) trusted him, but everyone survived, and that was what mattered.

The thing about Peter was that, for all of his schemes and double-dealings, his motivation was simple: power. Stiles gave Peter power in the form of information (and occasionally, influence with Scott or another member of the pack); in return, Peter was always honest with Stiles, sometimes painfully so, even when they were on opposite sides of an issue.

That's why Stiles didn't fight harder when Peter handed him the cup. In fact, he had hardly batted an eye when the wolf had crawled into his window and snarled at him to, “Hurry up and drink this.” Drinking whatever concoction it held would undoubtedly be an unpleasant experience, but it would accomplish something, even if Stiles didn't know what that something was yet.

(It tasted like magic and anise. Stiles _hated_ anise.)

<> <>

When Stiles wakes up a week later, it is to the sight of Talia Hale brushing his hair from his face. He blinks a few times--counts his fingers to make sure he's not dreaming--before the woman gives his hand a gentle squeeze.

“I'm so pleased to meet you, Stiles. Peter's told me so much about you.”

Stiles isn't sure how to respond to that. It's only later when Peter's father comes in to thank Stiles for his help and apologize for Peter's underhandedness, followed shortly thereafter by a red-eyed Derek, that the younger man begins to realize exactly how Peter had used him.

Despite everything, he isn't angry. He's thrilled that he could give Peter, Derek, and Cora their family. Scott can get rid of some of that weight on his shoulders, Lydia can stop finding bodies all of the time, and his dad can come home at a decent hour.

Stiles is forcibly adopted by the Hales in short order, and though the tension between he and Peter is never addressed, Stiles revels in other things: sitting with Cora at lunch, babysitting the twins, playing chess with Grandpa Blake.

Rather than getting affection from Peter, he soaks it up from the twins in the way they scream his name when them see him, in Laura's shy smiles and Cora’s shoulder nudges. Stiles sometimes catches Talia watching him with sad eyes, but she never says a word. Stiles is grateful for her silence.

Peter treats him better than he does the rest of the McCall pack, but that's not saying much. He still banters, still prefers working with Stiles, but even Scott notices the growing distance between them. Peter, having gotten what he wanted from Stiles, evidently has no more use for him. Everyone can see it, but no one seems to be able to stop it.

(It's far too late for that.)

He knows that both Lydia and Jordan, with their ties to death, can feel the strangeness in the air, but the business of soulmates is out of their purview. What is done by one, is felt by the other, and Stiles will be the one to pay the price for Peter's magic.

<> <>

Peter dreams of brown eyes and a clever grin. They seem familiar, but the werewolf is sure that he would remember meeting this man. The younger man is quiet, but friendly enough. A name skirts the edge of his brain, but every time Peter tries to focus on it, his head hurts, so he doesn't try very hard to remember.

For a moment, the man looks unbearably sad, and Peter feels his heart drop in response. “What's wrong?”

“I wish I'd been enough for you,” he says, leaning forward to barely brush his lips against Peter's.

The werewolf wakes up gasping for breath at the sudden feeling of loss in his chest.

<> <>

Stiles vanishes on his way home back to Beacon Hills for semester break.

(No one in either pack looks for him, because for them, Stiles Stilinski never existed.)

The price has been paid.

<> <>

Life goes on, as it always does. Laura gets married, the McCall pack graduates from college, Talia and her husband have another child. Peter learns how to have a family again, and he is happy.

(Except at night, when he can feel the hole in his chest like an open wound, and his dreams are filled with a voice that he can't recall come morning.)

Sometimes, the Hales will set an extra place at the dinner table without knowing why. More than once, Derek has snuck into the Sheriff's house via the guest bedroom window; afterward, he can never recall why he has done so.

Thankfully, the Sheriff never presses charges.

The Sheriff watches his family sometimes, though, in a way that makes Peter’s chest ache in sympathy. He knows that Talia has noticed it, too, but neither of them feel comfortable enough to ask the other man about his troubles.

Time passes.

<> <>

There is a new man in town. A relative of the Sheriff, gossip says, who has come to take care of the man while he recovers from his injury. The young man is kind, and handsome, and witty, but he focuses himself entirely on the Sheriff's recovery. He seems to leave the house only to buy groceries, and avoids talking to others if at all possible.

(When Laura and Cora Hale came by with a “get well soon” casserole, Stiles went as white as a sheet and took the food without inviting them inside. When Melissa McCall stopped by, Stiles hid in his room. When Talia and Peter visited for their weekly territory meeting with his dad, Stiles barricaded himself in his closet and sobbed into his pillow.)

Later that night, Talia made goulash for dinner. The Hales were halfway through the meal before they remembered that they had never had it before.

<> <>

The memories return slowly, jumbled pieces of light and color that make little sense for the longest time. It was easy to ignore dreams that didn't quite fit and flashes out of the corners of eyes as side effects of the nemeton’s new growth.

And maybe, in the end, it is the power of the nemeton that brings things back to the way they should be. For all that Stiles avoids the packs of Beacon Hills, he is tied to them in more ways than one, and they see him often.

(Peter dreams again of brown eyes and a cheeky grin, and he wants to pull the younger man into his arms and keep him forever. If only he could get Stiles to speak to him while they are awake.)

After all, if the nemeton has the power to restore life, who's to say that it wouldn't also have the power to repair the bond between souls?

<> <>

Time passes.

Peter doesn't remember everything, but he knows enough. He knows that he had taken his burgeoning feelings for Stiles and cruelly twisted them to his own end. Stiles had suffered on his behalf, for Peter's hubris.

Everyone wants to see their favorite human--to touch him, to hold him, to remind him that they've missed him--but Peter must go first.

For once, Peter isn't sure what he's going to say. He doesn't know what Stiles wants, or what he needs to hear, so when Stiles opens the door the first thing out of the werewolf's mouth is the same as before: “You must be Stiles.”

Stiles stares at him long enough that Peter gets nervous, and then his eyes soften and his mouth twitches into the tiniest smile before he steps back to invite the wolf inside.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the poem "If You Forget Me" by Pablo Neruda.
> 
> In case anyone is confused, I don't mention it directly, but the Sheriff does remember Stiles, and knows what is going on.
> 
> Next week: Chapters 5-6 of "in perfect light" and a AU, pre-canon, kid Stiles fic.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
